Nayomi Munaweera

I'm Practicing Joy Right Now

Intimate conversations with our greatest heart-centered minds.

The first piece of Nayomi Munaweera’s work I read was her essay “Her Body/My Body” in the anthology What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About. All the essays in that collection are brilliant but Nayomi’s exquisite account of growing up in a difficult relationship with her mom shot equal amounts wonder and adrenaline though my veins. I quickly devoured her two novels: Island of a Thousand Mirrors and What Lies Between Us.

In both, the subject matter is often brutal and Nayomi’s inspection of it, unflinching. Island of a Thousand Mirrors, which won the Commonwealth Book Prize, is set during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Told from the perspective of two female narrators—one Sinhalese and one Tamil—who contend with bigotry, suicide bombers, and sexual assault, the story suggests that one can never fully heal from the impact of war, but can find gentler ways to live with its imprint. And in What Lies Between Us, which won the Sri Lankan National Book Award, the young Ganga, full of delight and longing, is brought to her knees by childhood abuse that sends her and her mother to America where the trauma manifests in a series of heart-crushing decisions.

But amidst the sorrow, is equally unflinching tenderness. Tenderness between the characters, tenderness from the narrator for the world into which they’re inviting us, and tenderness from the author for the truths and lives she is offering.

Nayomi’s prose is lush, precise, weighty with the senses. You’re not so much guided through a landscape, as immersed in it: resplendent pink and orange dahlias; banter that flows like honey; the sweet tang of sun-warmed guava; the tug of river water. And nobody writes about food like Nayomi: ruby-fleshed papayas with seeds like obsidian pearls, eggplant moju, pol sambol, and so many curries. Her writing leaves me ravenous! And I’m always drawn to Nayomi’s social media posts: in addition to food, there are thoughtful book recommendations, insights on Sri Lanka, action steps for political events here, and sweet pictures of her love journey with her kitty cat.  

Nayomi was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Nigeria when she was three. At twelve she came to America with her parents and younger sister, and they settled in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Literature from University of California, Irvine and a Masters in South Asian Literature from University of California, Riverside. She currently lives in Oakland and teaches at Mills College and Ashland University.

We talked about paying attention to the small things, meals with nine curries(!), and the realities of being a woman.

Your writing is so of the senses, so of the body, so of textures and smells and tastes. It’s exquisite. Do you experience the world in this sensory-rich way?

Oh, I love that. I'm a Taurus woman so we're known to be super earthy and pretty obsessed with our surroundings and textures and fabric. It’s also part of being South Asian. South Asian writers are very much about layering and sensuality and paying attention to the world. Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Michael Ondaatje, all these folks are doing exactly the same thing. That was the diet I had early on.

I left Sri Lanka when I was three, then grew up in Nigeria, and came to America when I was twelve. So I was living split between many places; after twelve split between LA and Sri Lanka. LA can be big and loud, but also muted in color and smell. Folks in the suburban place I grew up were in the house by eight pm. Not the case for South Asia. In Sri Lanka, there is not a time where people are not on the street. Life is going on: color, sounds, textures, smells: everything is happening.